Zimbabwe digitalisation project hit by sanctions

Zimbabwe which has failed to meet the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) deadline to migrate from analogue broadcasting to digital by June 2015 has blamed illegal sanctions for derailing the project.

The digitalization project which is under the jurisdiction of the Broadcasting Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) and being rolled out by Transmedia brought so much excitement across the country but the flame has blown out due to red tape in the project implementation process.

The Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting said the digitalisation project is still underway. However, the project has been delayed by a number of factors which include transactional challenges related to illegal sanctions. The sanctions have made it difficult for the country to pay its foreign equipment suppliers as all payments could be intercepted by US authorities. The country is also failing to acquire equipment like the technical monitoring system from Germany due to sanctions.
This article first appeared on Zim Techreview, read more from the website.